Archive for the 'Health Reform' Tag Under 'Total Buzz' Category

Both presidential campaigns are attacking the other as readying the ax for Medicare - despite Mitt Romney's eventual assurances this week that he would restore previous spending levels.

In fact, President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity - which has been widely endorsed by Republicans - call for the same limits to Medicare spending.

Both Republicans and Democrats in Orange County are optimistic that the future of the Affordable Care Act, upheld in a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling Thursday, will go their way, according to an OC Political Pulse poll.

Those are, of course, two opposite directions.

Nearly two-thirds of 205 Republicans responding expect the health-care reform to be substantially repealed while about the same percentage of 102 Democrats participants expect it to remain substantially intact.

Since it will take a Republican Senate and probably a Republican president to significantly roll back so-called Obamacare, the partisan views of voters largely reflect their expectation that their side will prevail in the November election.

On the other hand, 12 percent of Republican and 16 percent of Democrats think the government will take an even bigger role in regulating and managing the nation's health care.

Orange County's congressional representatives predictably fell into partisan divisions in their reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling this morning to uphold most of the Affordable Care Act, which reforms how health care is handled in the country.

The Affordable Care Act, which had its last day of Supreme Court hearings today, is not the first choice of county Republicans - or Democrats - according to an OC Political Pulse poll.

Democrats polled prefer a universal single-payer plan - something akin to Medicare for all, with 73 percent wanting that approach. Those who stopped short of preferring a single-payer plan but thought an insurance mandate was necessary amounted to 22 percent of the 63 Democrats casting votes.

Two thirds of the 161 Republicans participating would like reform - but not one that mandates health insurance. Another 29 percent of Republicans think the health-care system worked fine before the 2010 reform.

Those identifying themselves as conservative Christians, illegal-immigration foes and members of the Tea Party voted in proportions similar to Republicans, with most preferring reform that did not include a mandate and sizable portion saying the thought the system worked fine before the Affordable Care Act.

The U.S. Supreme Court began with the case of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 today by considering an argument by an outside lawyer that the case cannot be taken up until somebody is actually forced to buy health insurance. But principal attorneys for both sides argued that the case should be heard now and justices signaled that they agreed - although The New York Times and Fox News frame the news slightly differently.

The gyrations of leading Republican presidential contenders continue, as the Wall Street Journal has uncovered a Newt Gingrich newsletter in which the former House speaker praised the 2005 Massachusetts health-care reform signed into law by then-Gov. Mitt Romney.

On the campaign trail, Gingrich has attacked "Romney-care," which provided a model for President Barack Obama's national health-care reform. In the past, Gingrich has also supported plans that mandate health insurance for everyone, although he's since abandoned that position.

"Mr. Gingrich's support of positions once embraced by many Republicans, including an individual health care requirement and cap-and-trade policies, have bedeviled him on the campaign trail with a party base that is more conservative than it was a decade ago," reads the New York Times' report on the issue.

“We agree entirely with Governor Romney and Massachusetts legislators that our goal should be 100 percent insurance coverage for all Americans,” the newsletter said.

Here's the second in a series comparing the presidential candidates on key issues. It was compiled by the Associated Press. Other segments look at immigration, environment, energy, education, gay marriage, Social Security, taxes, abortion, debt, war and terrorism. See below for links.

The comparison in this post focuses on health care and related issues. Additionally, Kaiser has a helpful and more detailed comparison, which includes specific looks at at Medicare and aging, at the health marketplace, at health reform philosophies of the candidates and at Medicaid.

At the county GOP's annual Flag Day dinner in June, Bill Whittle explained to about 1,000 of the area's most ardent Republicans how a movement started in the 1920s is succeeding in a Marxist takeover of American culture.

Elites had recruited disenfranchised women, blacks and gays in the 1960s to strip the country of its traditional values, the conservative commentator said. The ultimate goal is the collapse of the U.S. government, and President Barack Obama is a covert agent – a Manchurian candidate – helping lead the way, he said.

Whittle received a warm ovation from the crowd. Some in the crowd, including county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, didn't believe there was a covert plot but concurred that malevolent forces are gnawing at the fabric of the country.

The "cultural Marxism" outlined by Whittle is also blamed, in the 1,500-page manifesto of Anders Behring Breivik, for eroding European Christian society. Continue reading>>

Tuesday's special congressional election in upstate New York - longshot Democrat Kathy Hochul prevailed in a Republican district - has helped bring front and center the question of whether GOP Rep. Paul Ryan's proposed Medicare reform will cost Republicans seats in the 2012 election.

Republican Jane Corwin lost in large measure because of her embrace of Ryan's plan and the Democratic assault on that position, in which they warned that Medicare recipients would lose benefits.

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Pundits are debating whether Medicare's role in Tuesday's election foreshadows next year's races. But one of the most insightful takes on the issue came last month, when Fareed Zakaria wrote in Time magazine that Barack Obama could either exploit the issue - as Hochul did - for short-term gain or he could use it as an opportunity to build support for a better Medicare reform, investing in a long-term policy gain.

Facing a potentially decisive liability head on, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney today defended the universal health-care plan he championed as governor of Massachusetts - and explained why a similar plan on a national level, signed into law by President Barack Obama, needs to be repealed.

Romney has been attacked by some Republicans and mocked by some Democrats, who've said the candidate is hypocritical to attack Obama's plan. The Republican-friendly editorial writers at the Wall Street Journal criticized the Massachusetts plan in advance of Romney's speech today, calling the candidate "compromised and not credible."

But Romney said the state was forced to reform its approach to health care because of "the free-rider problem" - uninsured residents with medical emergencies, which the state was obliged to pay for.

"I did what was right for my state," he said from the podium at the University of Michigan's Cardiovascular Center.

But he argued that the national plan - designed to address the uninsured, spiraling costs, and those with preexisting conditions - would result in a host of problems. Among them: higher taxes, more bureaucracy, reduced consumer choice, and mandates upon the states.